My individual game experience.

In this class, we have looked at the ‘game experience’. Each game has it’s own uniqueness, whether it’s derivative from another game, or completely original. I played three games over the course of three weeks, which three different groups of people. Through this, I was able to analyse the game, it’s mechanics, concept and how it made everyone feel.

‘Exploding Kittens’.

‘Exploding Kittens’ is a card game for a general age demographic based on elimination. The creators describe it as a ‘kitty-powered version of Russian roulette’. In my small group, one of us had played the game before and was able to explain the game mechanics as we went along. We started to understand the rules as we went on by coming up to scenarios in which certain cards could be used to make moves in the game for your ‘survival’. I personally really enjoyed this game and ended up buying it and playing with my family, to which they got very competitive.

‘The Resistance: Avalon’.

‘Avalon’ is described by their creators as ‘a deduction and bluffing game’, in which we were given roles of evil or good, and we had to keep our ‘poker faces’ to keep our missions from being ruined by the other team. We needed five players and we had six, and it went well. The first round was definitely confusing as there was misunderstandings of how the turns and the mechanics of the game operated, however, as we did it for a second and third time, we really began to understand and found ourselves using strategies. It ended up being a really good bonding experience as well and we have made friendships out of this gameplay.

‘What Do You Meme’.

With the emergence of COVID-19, I was limited in terms of games I could play, which led me to ‘What Do You Meme’. It is an adult party game which I played with my teenage sister and my parents, and the purpose is to win as many of the rounds as possible. One player in the group judges the round, while the other players match a tagline with an image, to which the judge picks the best one. This game reminded me of many others, and didn’t stand out as a unique game experience as the other two did. There are other iterations of those other games as well, however their design, genre, audience and setting made them a memorable experience.

About Me

Isaac Percy is a 21 year old from Camden, NSW. Studying a Bachelor of Communications & Media/Arts at University of Wollongong. Isaac also coordinates the annual Smash The Silence youth event to raise awareness for local youth musicians, artists, and youth mental health.